Imnansu Ginkgo, Sejong

The two ginkgo trees are estimated to be about 600 years old. The tree to the right of the entrance to Sungmogak Hall is 20 m tall with a girth of 6.9 m at the root collar, while the tree to the left of the entrance is 19 m tall with a girth of 5.4 m at the root collar. Records of the Imnansu Ginkgo appear in several historical sources. The Buan Im Clan Genealogy, published in 1674, contains an illustration of the clan's bujo sau — a shrine granted exemption from the rule that ancestral rites cease after four generations — showing a pair of ginkgo trees together with the Haengjeong Pavilion ("Ginkgo Pavilion"). References to the trees can also be found in the entry on the bujo sau in the Gongju-mok gazetteer of Chungcheong Province, Gongsanji (1859), and in the Yeongi-ji (1934). Because records of the Imnansu Ginkgo can be traced through numerous historical documents, it holds great historical value. As an old tree surviving as a male-and-female pair, it is also distinguished from ginkgo trees previously designated as single specimens. The pair was planted symmetrically on either side following the traditional planting method associated with the Confucian haengdan, a raised platform traditionally flanked by a pair of ginkgo trees and linked to the teaching of Confucius, and together with Sungmogak Hall on the slopes of Jeonwolsan Mountain the trees form a harmonious landscape. Descendants of the Buan Im clan still hold an annual moksinje, a rite honouring the tree spirit, before the ginkgo trees. For these academic and scenic merits, it has been designated and is protected as a natural monument.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sejong

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물